Suffragette – Made by Women About Women for Everyone

I was fortunate enough to see the regional preview of Suffragette this week, thanks to Bath Film Festival and the Bath branch of the Women’s Equality Party. It was a profound experience.

It’s hard to believe that the amazing story of the women (and some men) has not been a major film before. It seems it needed a group of women to make it. (Another first is that it was the first film allowed to be shot actually in the Houses of Parliament.)

The film tells the story of the campaign for votes for women through the eyes of a fictional character. Maud is a working class woman working in a laundry; a life of grindingly hard work. Carey Mulligan was excellent in the role. Her performance was nuanced and well acted. I’m pleased to say the film does not ‘demonise’ men at all. They get a reasonably sympathetic hearing within the mores of the time.

Finding female actors to take part was a doddle, thrilled to have a major film where they predominate. Apparently wasn’t that easy to find men who wanted to take part. One of the producers, Alison Owen said:

“It did amuse me that a few people [men] responded saying, ‘There’s not enough for them to do, they’re just reacting to the women.’ Welcome to the world of actresses.”

All the major players in this film – producer, director, writer, actors – are female. That’s cause for celebration in itself. The team behind Suffragette are :